Addie and her sister are about to embark on an epic road trip to a friend’s wedding in rural Scotland. The playlist is all planned and the snacks are packed.
But, not long after setting off, a car slams into the back of theirs. The driver is none other than Addie’s ex, Dylan, who she’s avoided since their traumatic break-up two years earlier.
Dylan and his best mate are heading to the wedding too, and they’ve totalled their car, so Addie has no choice but to offer them a ride. The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with four hundred miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can’t avoid confronting the very messy history of their relationship…
Will they make it to the wedding on time? And, more importantly… is this really the end of the road for Addie and Dylan?
Genre: Fiction/Romantic Fiction
Number of Pages: 416 pages
Date of Publication: 29/04/2021
Author/Illustrator/Publisher:
Beth O’Leary is the author of this book and a Sunday Times bestselling author.
The publisher is Quercus Publishing
Rating: 4.5/5
Review:
What a journey I had with this story! I felt that I was really taking a road trip with the characters. I had read Beth’s O’Leary’s previous books so I was already really looking forward to reading this story but it still managed to surpass my expectations. The story centres on Addie, who is a smart and funny character, while Dylan is trying to figure out who he is and what he wants to do with his life.
The story contains two different timelines, one where the characters are on their titular road trip and another one which takes us back to where Addie and Dylan had just met which takes us through their relationship until we know their full story leading up to the road trip.
This is such a great book where every single character adds something to the story and it is told from the POV of both main characters at various times. I had so many different emotions while reading this book. I went from sadness, to happiness to anger and really wanted to be there for the characters.
I can definitely see that this is a more complex story from O’Leary’s previous work and you can notice a clear development in the ambition of the book which is great to see in a writer. The plot has more complicated themes that were very well balanced and the characters had each personality that complemented the other’s. With each page that I read I was surprised to see that this book, unusually for romance, was quite unpredictable and had some great twists to it and by the middle of the book the pace picks up and I just didn’t want to put it down. I found myself trying to read this book in every single free moment as I just didn’t want to miss anything.
I just would like to acknowledge that this book does contain some serious themes like alcoholism, drugs and sexual assault which some people might find distressing.
A great read for this spring/summer time.
I feel so fortunate that all my books from O’Leary are signed copies which I absolutely love.
Availability: The book is available in all good bookshops.
Shelf Life 
Leave a Reply